#finishstrong

Hello RA world!

As we wind down the semester and 24 hour quiet hours start I wanted to share a bit of humor with my favorite 34 people!

First is an oldie but a classic. This accurately describes what we do everyday- we make the Residence Halls great places to study, laugh, eat, sleep and overall just have a really productive College Experience!!

This is why DORM is a bad word in our world. Demerits for all uses of the word DORM in Winter Training (starting on January 15 at 10am for NEW RAs and 1pm for Returners!!)

Quiet Hours- they start early (1am) on Saturday night/Sunday morning! Take advantage and study up!! Remind your residents that is for everyone on campus- even those that are done with their exams. We are deserve respect during #finalsweek. 

The fox knows. 

Good luck next week friends!!
LOL, (lots of love!)
Jessica

Staff Shoutouts!

Hola!

It's time again to recognize those staff members who have been Really Awesome over the last week.  Email Julie to submit your own for the next round of shout outs!  

Pizza Party Winners!

Congratulations to our RAs with the TOP 5 RESPONSE RATES on resident evals!  Be on the lookout for a communication from Jessica about how to claim your floor's prize!

• London Mosher - 100% (Holy smokes!  Great job, London!)
• Melissa Velpel - 85% 
• Chris Hamilton - 80%
• Mherete Mherete - 78%
• Maggie Breen-Lyles - 72%

Michael Anderson!

Michael's been on the ball with several incident reports about damages in the halls.  Good eye, Michael!

Dan Knox!

Shoutout to Dan from Jessica for being true to himself and his own temperature needs and wearing his winter coat indoors at Jessica's house over Thanksgiving, even though Jessica was being mean and making fun of him.  You go, Dan!

Colin Uthe!

Colin has been an all-around rockstar on staff, in addition to just being a positive and pleasant person.  He also kicks David's butt in Madden, which important and needs to be recognized.

Shantavia Young!

Picked up THREE nights of Thanksgiving break duty for Scott staff.  Way to take one for the team, Tavia!

Zach Matson!

Zach came to the rescue when bad weather prevented Maggie from making it back to campus for her duty night over Thanksgiving Break.  Zach jumped to fill in because he's awesome and always willing to help a fellow staff member.  Thanks Zach!

Rachel Grutza!

Rachel has put a lot of thought and care into her programs this semester, and her effort has been very much appreciated.  Keep it up, Rachel!

Veronica DeLisle!

Veronica handled some rough and unexpected situations on her floor efficiently and professionally last week.  Thanks for holding down the fort, Veronica!

Until next time!
<3 DJ3

Staff Spotlight: Quad Squad

Oh yes hi hello. This is David coming at you with another Update from the Quad Sqad. The Squad is doing really well actually. I think we’ve got all the right junk in all the right places. That’s my clever way of saying we’ve got some pretty talented people that I kinda like bragging about. 

Well. Anyways. Where to begin? Let’s start with Konner and Marthe, both of whom put on yet another incredible program called, “cards against depression.” It was really cool and I schooled a handful of them in Banagrams. Also Konner and I were on the Ripon Website for #respectfuldifference… sorry we’re awesome? Yessra participated in it too?!? I do not know how she did not end up on the website. 

Whatever. Yessra deserves her own website anyways. 

Anyways where were you. Let’s talk about our awesome RAD programmers? They kind of are on a whole new level of kick ass. That buffalo wild wing competition was kinda awesome. If you have time, you should ask Laura who the real winner was. It wasn’t Jason. Na Na Boo Boo, [this comment censored by Julie because she does not approve.  Deal with it]. 

The RA Office underwent some renovations, this was of course done by the hands of our one and only, Rachel. In between talking about dogs and crafts during our 1/1, she managed to add some new swag to our office. Go her. Speaking of people with hidden talent, Colin is surprisingly unstoppable at Madden. 

I almost beat him… 

Almost. 

Then I lost. UGH. 

And the final in our Quad Squad roll call is Zach and Jenny. Both of whom just finished yet another sweet program where we learned about sustainability. Jason and I were really impressed. 

All in all, the Quad Squad is doing pretty awesome.  You should give us all high fives next time you see us.  Just saying.

 - David

Programming HQ: Bringing 2014 to a Close

Hey all, check out these tips David wants to send your way as we finish up our fall programming!

There's a lot happening in these last couple weeks, and as the semester wraps up and finals loom, it can be helpful to pull your residents out of their study bubble and reflect on their time on floor this year.  At your last program or floor meeting of the semester, or even just while hanging out with residents here and there, ask some of the following questions to get your residents thinking about what this semester has meant to their residential experience.  And while you're at it, why don't you think about the answers yourself!

• When I first met people on this floor, I thought…

• The best part about living on this floor has been…

• One thing I learned from living on this floor is…

• One thing I learned about myself this semester is…

• What I’ll miss most about this semester is…

• I laughed the hardest when…

• One time somebody on the floor helped me was when…

• The toughest part of this semester was…

• If I had this semester to do over, I would…

• My favorite memory about living here so far is…

Bonus: Invite your residents to an end of the semester dinner in the Commons! Your entire floor can go to have a final dinner together before finals ramp up and people start heading out for winter break.  No matter what sort of floor you're living on - First Years, upperclassmen, Greek, independent - each of your residents has experienced new challenges, situations, and transitions this semester.  Help them reflect on how living on the floor has impacted their semester, and what they hope to see with the new year.

XOXO,

David